A Closer Look at the Testing: We Love Data

To analyze the performance of the golf balls we sell at Lost Golf Balls, we collected two sets of data for comparison. First, we compared driver distance off the tee between our recycled golf balls and brand new ones. Second, we tested this same relationship when hitting off the ground using a seven-iron.

If all of our golf ball inventory could be placed into a big golf bag, shaken up and emptied, a Titleist or a Nike might roll out like a white marble—or maybe a Callaway, a popular brand for golf gear, would zoom out ahead of the crowd as the company has done in the last few decades. Today, we celebrate Callaway golf balls for their velocity, courtesy of aerodynamics, but some golfers might not be quite up to speed with their history and ingenuity.

This year marks the 114th United States Open Championship. The first US Open was held in 1895 at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island and consisted of 36 holes. It was played on a nine hole course and all four rounds were played in a single day.

This week the PGA Tour will tee it up at the 57th FedEx St. Jude Classic, held at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee (a course we provide retrieval service for). Always a draw for strong players, the FedEx St. Jude Classic debuted in 1958 as the Memphis Open. In 1969, Danny Thomas agreed to

There are many talented golfers out there. Some take lessons for years and years, others just have that natural talent. An extremely talented Jack Nicklaus got a speedy start to his golf game shooting a 51 the first time he ever played nine holes. He survived polio at 13 and the only handicap he came away with was a +3 on the golf course. At just 15, five years after picking up his first club, he shot a 66 at Scioto Country Club. A short three years later, at 18, this young man brought his natural, but now masterfully refined, ability to the PGA Tour. Nobody knew at the time that he was also bringing with him the moniker of his Upper Arlington High School mascot: The Golden Bears.

We’ve always believed at Lost Golf Balls that starting every hole with a new ball is nonsensical, not to mention expensive. We’ve been passionately using our recycled golf balls for years (here’s a link to some of our personal favorites) and never noticed a difference between the recycled and new. However, not everyone believes this, so we wanted empirical data to back it up. We put them to the test. We sent some of our best-selling golf balls to an independent testing facility to have them compared to brand new ones.

How do we do this, you ask? Easy. We kidnap PGA professionals from golf courses around the country and force them to sort, inspect, and hand-shine each and every golf ball.

Nike began its foray into golf in 1984 with a business plan, a couple promotional shirts, and a football cleat converted into a golf shoe. A little over a decade later, a young phenom would catapult their meager presence in the golfing world into one of enormous power and influence.

Sometimes even a great putt can end in a splash. At the 1982 Players Championship, Jerry Pate’s did just that. In fact, it resulted in three of them. After sinking his tournament-winning putt, he marked his victory by sinking PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye into the water near the 18th green before jumping in himself. It is one of golf’s most iconic celebrations.